Perpich Students Explore New Perspectives Through All-School Theater Field Trip

October 5, 2026

Perpich Arts High School students stepped outside the traditional theater experience on October 2, attending “A Sky Full of Stars: The Values Play Experience”, a performance by Wonderlust Productions that explores the values and perspectives connecting people across political, geographic, and cultural divides.

Perpich students attended “A Sky Full of Stars: The Values Play Experience”, presented by Wonderlust Productions, during an all-school field trip on October 2, exploring new perspectives through verbatim theater.

The all-school field trip was organized by Theater Instructor Tory Peterson, who saw an opportunity to introduce students to a different kind of theater while encouraging them to think about community, identity, and the experiences people share.

“What I found interesting was that I really do believe that some of our kids saw their stories told for the first time where they’ve never seen them told before,” Peterson said. “The play really did hold up a mirror to society and have these kids realize, you know, that’s my family, that’s my neighbors.”

The production uses verbatim theater, a form of documentary theater built from real people’s words and experiences. For Peterson, introducing students to this approach was an important part of expanding their understanding of what theater can be.

“Kids know what they like,” Peterson said. “They like musicals. They like comedies and things like that. And so I always feel it’s important to show them opportunities of things that are different, that they can work towards.”

The performance also offered students a chance to experience theater in a less conventional setting. Rather than the quiet, traditional audience experience many students might associate with theater, the production invited participation and spontaneous responses from the crowd.

Peterson said the show’s director, Leah Cooper (Co-Artistic Director of Wonderlust Productions), told him it was the best audience the company had ever had, noting how actively students connected with what was happening onstage.

Principal Rebecca Bullen emphasized how opportunities like this help make the Perpich experience unique.

“Exposing our young artists to new artforms, and ways of thinking and being in the world, is another unique and amazing thing we do,” Bullen said.

For Peterson, the value of the experience was not necessarily whether every student liked the performance. It was whether students left with a new perspective on theater, storytelling, or the people around them.

“I hope everybody was able to take something out of it,” he said. “That’s, to me, what it’s all about anyway.”

“A Sky Full of Stars: The Values Play Experience” Show Information

How can we live together as a community when we seem to stand so far apart?
To answer this question, Wonderlust gathered over 300 people from across Minnesota and a broad political spectrum of beliefs to identify values that matter most to them and explore this nation’s current culture war.

From these stories, Wonderlust has created a new epic play, with a twist: A Star Full of Skies: The Values Play Experience. In a parallel universe, a hotly contested election is pulling society apart. Politicians sowing seeds of revolution clash with those maintaining safety, security, and order. Meanwhile, their citizens try to navigate relationships of love and family poisoned by the mistrust and contradictions in the election.

This play is sure to inspire thoughtful discussion about society, democracy, values, and freedom; bring a friend or family member you’d like to connect with across values. The show invites audience members to exercise their right to vote and decide together on the order of the play–as it happens, each performance.